Aria of the Soul
by Chauclit
Summary: The blue haired boy gets released from the seal. He finds that he has revived, but in a different world where Tatsumi Port Island doesn't exist. He finds that magic exists in this world and gets caught up in the Fifth Holy Grail War, not willing to take part in any of it… but he does so anyway. Will he survive?
1. Prologue

_**Prologue - Start**_

* * *

Darkness.

Darkness filled the whole world, or maybe even the universe around him.

It was all he saw for an... eternity? Maybe even longer.

'_How long has it been...?'_

The boy absentmindedly looked at the empty nothingness in front of him. Was he even turning his head to look all around him...? He's been there for so long, he doesn't even care anymore.

How long had it been since the end of the world? Where were his friends now? Did they keep living and forget about him? Or did they still remember him? Those were thoughts that were always in his mind while in that desolate plain that harboured nothingness. The only thoughts that kept him from going crazy.

He was also wondering about the hundred other mythical beings hidden inside his psyche. It feels like they weren't responding to him anymore. How long had it been since he summoned one? It felt like he was missing some of them...

He kept that thought saved for next time. No need to find out if he really was missing some when he can't even summon them.

_'...Will I ever be able to leave...?' _were his final thoughts, before he saw a light. A tiny beacon of hope for his existence, in this dark plain.

_'Is this it?' _He thought and felt a light pull.

_*rattle*_

He looked to where the noise came from and saw his arms chained to nothing. As the pull got a little stronger, he started inching to the tiny light closer and closer.

_'...Well. This is a first. Hope it's a good thing.' _He was bought out of his thoughts as the vacuum was starting to lift his legs off the seemingly bottomless abyss.

As the pull got stronger and stronger, he started to frown. He was now in a position where one would think that he's levitating in mid air, in a lying down position. The reason for his frown was that the chains didn't look like they wanted to break anytime soon.

_'Is this a good thing? Do I really want to go to that light?' _He was bought out of his musing as the chain that was holding his right arm broke off with ease.

_'Great. What weak chains. Guess I don't have a choice.' _He mentally sighed. Then, the last chain that bound him like a prisoner, broke like glass.

He then started floating through the lonely abyss and headed to the light.

_'I wonder how I'm now finally free...' _A vision suddenly flashed through his mind and he saw a brief image of a certain blonde attendant with bright yellow eyes, smiling warmly at him.

He smiled back, as though the woman could see him.

_'Thanks... Elizabeth.'_

He was thinking about that blue room's attendants and it's caretaker. He wondered how they were doing. Did they spend all these years trying to find out how to break him from the seal?

His thoughts were blanked out instantly, as his vision turned white.

* * *

Taiga Fujimura is a school teacher in Fuyuki City. An eccentric one, maybe (considering her childish antics), but still a teacher with responsibilities. So when she found a body belonging to a boy (judging from the lack of lumps on the front), lying on the ground by the local park in the area, her teacherly instincts kicked in, just like any other teachers' instincts should.

She was just finishing up some work at school and she found the boy, who looked at least 15 or 16 years old and found his hair to be oddly coloured. A deep blue colour that resembles the deep sea.

_'Did he dye it? But it looks kinda natural as it suits him...'_ As she got closer to the unknown boy, she was bought out of her brooding as she got a closer look at his face.

_'Oh my... He's looks very charming.'_

She looked at the unconscious boy and studied his youthful features. Closed eyelids, a small nose and a pair of lips were placed over his pale yet healthy complexion of his skin, showing that he was still rather well. It was like looking at a doll that suddenly gained life, as shown by the gentle rises of his chest. His hair was rather long as it looked like that the right side of his hair made it so that his right eye was covered by it.

_'Nevertheless,'_ she thought, _'it still wouldn't make him look any less handsome than he already is. Have I just found a young model?'_ She finished with the study of his good looking face and proceeded to look around if anyone was nearby that can help.

After a few glances at her surroundings, there was no one. Well, it was the afternoon after all, 5:00pm to be exact, so there was no need to be hanging around in a park that late.

And so, she decided to see if there was anything wrong with him and take the matters into her own hands. She studied the boy in front of her and came to the conclusion that the boy was not hurt or injured in any way. He was breathing at a steady pace, so there was no need to call the local hospital for an emergency. She then thought about moving him off of the road and identified a Walkman MP3 player with a pair of silver clip-on headphones laying beside it. She quickly concluded that it was the young teen's and carried it with her, along with the pretty boy that she was supporting with her arms over his shoulders. She then trailed off and into the park.

* * *

Taiga placed him on a bench in the park. She then started to gently place her lap on the back of his head, keeping his face looking at the orange sky. After all, this is one really good looking boy and who wouldn't want to enjoy this? She at least wanted some reward, so why not this? This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her to see a real life bishounen and not the ones that you see on TV.

She once again studied his features. His hair was now covering his right eye, but it still managed to show his attractiveness. _'Now, what am I supposed to do now?'_ She considered her options. She could either wait until he wakes up, which could take quite a long time, or she could bring him to her home and care for him there. The walk to her house was only a couple 100 metres nearby.

Her thoughts got stopped as she noticed movement in the youth's eyelids. He started to very slowly open his eyes, adjusting to the light of the Sun and the lamp that was placed above them.

_'Ah. Look at his eyes. I really have found a boy that any girl would want for a boyfriend. Kyaaa~! I'm so lucky~!' _She squealed like a fan girl because of her discovery. While he was staring at the sky and not her, she admired the colour of his eyes. They were a cyan blue and they looked like they were reflecting the shallow waters of a tropical beach. She stared deeper into them and found them to be piercing, like someone that can truly read a person's soul just be looking at them. His eyes looked cold, but somehow they gave off a warm and welcoming feeling, yet they look like they could cut if the person turned serious.

She was cut off from her observations, as the person of study had coughed lightly to get her attention. He was looking at her with an expression of surprise and stared into her eyes as well, trying to find an answer to a question that hadn't been said yet.

She then noticed that her face was literally quite close to his. Of course, her reaction was expected by everyone who knew her. But not him.

"W-Wa-wa-waahh!" She yelped and found her face to be burning in a dark shade of red.

_'Too close, too close!'_

She didn't notice that she had stood up and found him on the ground, trying to get up.

She was quickly bought out of her blushing state and reacted by helping him up off of the ground. A little bit of red still stained her cheeks, but she didn't notice.

"A-Are you okay?! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that! You just surprised me and..." She then bowed in front of him telling him excuses. When she had finished and didn't hear anything coming from the boy, she looked up.

The boy was staring at her with an amused expression. He then smiled and opened his mouth. "It's okay. No harm was done and I'm fine. You can stop bowing now."

_'Um... Did she not hear me?'_ The boy mused as the woman in front of him was gaping like a fish.

Taiga was very happy right now. She had just found a bishounen and he smiled at her. At her. She mused that she was being too excitable, but who can blame her? The youth in front of her was any woman's dream. Of course she proclaimed to be an adult, but who doesn't let out their childish side once in a while?

Yes, she dropped him rather hard, but he had excused it. What she was staring at now was quite literally, an angel. She quickly saved what she was seeing and burned it into her memory. She would not forget it for a couple of weeks. Or months.

She was bought out of her trance-like state when she heard the boy again. How unfortunate.

"Um... Miss? Is something wrong?" The boy asked, looking quite confused.

"Ah, no no no. I just had a thought is all! Ehehehe..." She looked away to try and cover her face. After a moment, she started to look towards him again and got her feelings under control again.

"Is that so? Well, thank you very much for taking care of me while I was out. How can I make it up to you?" The boy politely offered to repay for her 'care'.

"Eh? No no, there's no need to repay me! I just did what any teacher should do when they see an unconscious student. Speaking of which, I don't think I've seen that uniform around here before. Which school do you go to?" She said to him.

_'He's as tall as Issei.' _She added in her thoughts.

"Oh. I'm not from around here. This was my previous school's uniform." He looked at his outfit. A dark blazer covered his arms, with a white polo and normal school trousers covering the rest. A ribbon was adorned on his figure, serving as a tie of sorts.

"Anyways, please let me indulge you. I must repay you." He continued. "Though I'm afraid I don't have that much money on me... Is there anything else I can do?"He said, persisting on the matter.

"Hmmm..." She muttered. What does she want him to do...Hm? An idea.

"Well... Can you cook a meal? I'm pretty starving right now and I would think you are as well." She answered.

The boy's eyes lit up. "Yes, sure. I'll be happy to cook you a meal. Consider it done. I won't disappoint you, miss."

"Great! My house is just around this area, so we'll get there in about 2-3 minutes. I just hope the guys aren't there... If they saw me with him, who knows what would happen..." She muttered under her breath.

"Ok! Are you feeling alright now? Can you walk or do you want me to help you?" She stated.

"No thanks, I think I'll be fine. Please, lead the way." He said.

"Alright, follow me!" And so, the short trek to her house started, with the handsome youth trailing behind her.

* * *

As they got to her house, she looked for any signs that showed indications of the people who normally hang around.

_'Ok, coast is clear. So far, so good.'_

"We are here! Welcome to the front of my home!" She said with excitement. He said that he wasn't going to disappoint on his cooking after all and the way he said it sounded like he had full confidence in his abilities in the art of cuisine. She couldn't wait.

"Oh? It looks very traditional. And it looks rather big as well. Have you got deep pockets, miss?" He said in observation.

"Ah, no no no. My grandfather heads a pretty... rich business here in Fuyuki, but you don't really need to know that. Come on in!" She headed inside with the boy following closely.

"I'm back~! Take off your shoes here and you could walk around with your socks on."

"Sorry for intruding..." He said quietly. Once he finished taking his shoes off, she gestured for her to keep leading.

While they were walking through the walkways of her home, she glanced back to see the boy looking around with interest.

"Big place, isn't it?" She started.

"Yes... never would I have expected there to be a really big courtyard and also a pond in this place." He replied.

"Well, you haven't seen anything yet! There's also a dojo for training kendo here! It's the place which I use the most and I'm proud of it!" She huffed proudly.

"Kendo, huh? You practice?" He questioned.

"Yeah! You may not believe me, but I used to be a champion back at your age! With my trusty shinai, I cleaved my way through to victory!" She raised her fist in the air with pride exuding from her aura.

"Really now? Well, me too. Back in my old school, I used to be called the 'Ace' in the team. A hidden wild card, you could say." The youth smiled in remembrance.

"Really?!" She turned back to look at him with an expression of excitement. "Do you wanna spar with me after we digest all your food? I've been itching to have a good opponent that I could face one-on-one! All the guys here are wimps and don't want to play with me, so it's no fun! Speaking of which, I wonder why they always run away..." The boy in front of her sweatdropped at the last part. She seemed oblivious to the thoughts of these guys that don't want to spar and with good reason. If she was what she said she was, then obviously no one would want to spar.

She still didn't think about what the context behind the nickname, 'Tiger', really was about.

"Umm... Well, I haven't touched a sword in years. I would if I could, but right now I'm rusty. I need to feel a sword again and start practicing again to get the feeling back." He stated.

"Awww... ok. You're already making dinner for me anyways, so that's enough. By the way, do you know what dish your going to make?" She questioned.

"Depends on the ingredients you have. I have a variety of different foods I can make." He answered smoothly.

"Ehhhh, really? You sound like you have a lot of confidence in your abilities! I'll be looking forward to eating the dishes of a pretty boy like you then! I bet you get all the girls with it, huh?" She grinned.

The boy answered with a smooth smile. "Yes. I'll be happy if you turn out to be one of those girls. They always came back for seconds afterwards.'

An instant blush formed on her face and she grimaced.

_'Crap... I fell right into it. He's actually pretty smooth when talking to girls!' _She turned away from him after a moment of staring and quickly recomposed herself.

"A-Ahem," she cleared her throat, "follow me please. We are nearly there."

The boy followed. He was still grinning though. She didn't acknowledge the heat that was still on her cheeks though. That means he would win.

_'Don't relax just yet boy. I'll get you soon enough. Just you wait!'_

She chuckled silently to herself and headed for the dining room with the pretty bluenette boy following behind her. She glanced back for a moment and saw that the youth still had that smug smile of his plastered on his face.

_'Dammit!'_

* * *

They arrived a minute later to the aforementioned room. She quickly sat down by the low table and turned on the TV.

"Is that the kitchen by that corner there, miss?" The boy asked.

"Yeah. Go get cooking." She said with a tone of indifference clear in her voice. She clearly wasn't satisfied with the outcome of her teasing with the said boy.

"Ok. I'll be using your kitchen now then." The boy said and proceeded to head to the kitchen.

"You better make it good!" She stated.

"I said I wouldn't disappoint, didn't I?" He replied back to her.

_'Gosh. Never would have thought a situation like this would happen to me. A pretty boy cooking for me? Who wouldn't want it?' _She giggled happily to herself and waited for the food to be finished. The aroma of meat cooking wafted into her nostrils. Oh boy, she couldn't wait.

_**An hour later...**_

"Bon appetit, miss." He said.

"Woah..." Taiga said, very much surprised at the outcome.

Taiga couldn't believe her eyes. Sprawled out all around her on the table, were literally sparkling pieces of cuisine that she just wanted to dig into right now. Ranging from the meaty dishes, Tonkatsu (pork cutlets) and Nikujaga (sweet meat and potatoes), to the healthy ones consisting of vegetables and a side of rice to top it off, she held back the drool that threatened to leak from her mouth.

_'He made all of this? From all the stuff in the barely used kitchen? Unbelievable!'_ She was shocked that he actually managed to create some dishes that looked very appetising. She thought he was bluffing about his skills. Guess he wasn't lying.

_'Maybe he really does get all the girls... Who am I kidding, he said so himself...'_

"Is it to your liking, miss?" He said while still bringing more dishes to the table.

"Ah? Yes yes, it looks really good! I can't wait!" She answered.

The boy replied, "Well, you'll just have to wait a bit longer. The rice should be finishing just about... now."

_*Ding!*_

"Now then, shall we start?" He smiled.

"Yes, let's eat right now! Itadakimasu~!" She yelped in delight and started digging in. Idle thoughts about how he managed to do this, we're put on hold.

The boy also responded with etiquette and started eating before all the food was gone.

Time seemed to fly by, as Taiga and the boy continued eating the 5-star meal in a silence broken only by munching and chewing sounds.

_**Another hour later...**_

Taiga started to lean back and relax near the table. A content sigh escaped her mouth.

_'I give up trying to get a one-up over him. He keeps surprising me every time I doubt him. He'll be a GREAT husband, no doubt about it.'_

"I'm guessing you liked the meal? A lot?" He smiled in her direction.

"Yes I did. One of the best meals that I have had in my lifetime! Really, really delicious!" She said with a happy tone.

"I get that at the times when my friends eat my dishes. Thank you for your review, miss." He grinned at her satisfied look.

"Don't call me miss! Please, call me Taiga!" She replied back with a childish tone.

"I understand. Thank you for taking care of me, Taiga-san." He bowed.

"Ehhhh? No need to be so formal with me boy. Just relax and digest." She began to lean back and lie on the floor, facing the ceiling.

"Alright then. I'll do just that as well." He replied and began to lie down as well.

A comfortable silence floated in between the two of them, with the TV playing in the background. She took a glance and stared at his direction. He had taken off his blazer and used it as a makeshift pillow to allow him to sleep, light breaths escaping his nose.

_'A quick snooze, eh? Well, I guess he's tired after everything I've put him through... At least now, I can admire him closely~." _She hummed to herself. She stood up silently and moved to his side of the table, quietly lying down on her side. She set some distance between them.

She observed the mysterious youth in front of her. His chest was lightly rising up and down and his face had a serene expression. His charm was even more pronounced at this time. A real life male sleeping beauty.

She looked once more and then gazed a bit lower to his body. One could see curvature of his torso, indicating he was well-trained and his arms looked strong as shown by his biceps looking buffer than average for a teen. Looks like he really trained for Kendo. She was bought out of her inspection, when she heard someone speak.

"Like what you see?" She looked up at his face to see him staring right back at her. A teasing smirk replaced his mouth.

The two stared at each other for a couple of minutes, with the boy maintaining eye contact and the woman staring back with wide eyes and a mouth that opened and closed uncontrollably. A fiery, red blush covered her face and she looked shocked.

"W-w-w-w-wa..." She mumbled incoherently.

"Wah?" He continued, a wider grin forming.

"...waaahh!" She stood up and screamed at the ceiling.

_'He got a one up on me again! He caught me staring! Ahhhh! God, I'm so embarrassed!' _She held her hands to the sides of her head and nearly pulled her hair out.

She was still screaming until she ran out of breath. When it died down, she turned around and saw the boy sitting up and chuckling.

"Ahahaha! God, your reaction! Hahaha!" He said between laughs.

"Stop laughing!" She pointed at him and yelled, "How the hell did you find me staring at you while you were snoozing off?!"

"Hehehe... I guess you could say that I have a sixth sense for this sort of thing. I could guess when somebody is staring at me, even if they're in a huge crowd. Damn, that was funny. Hehehe..." He wiped a stray tear from his eye and smiled back at her, still amused.

"Wipe that smile off your face! Don't you know how embarrassed I am?!" She huffed.

"Sorry, sorry. It was too good to let up. Ha..." He breathed out slowly. "Okay. I'm alright now."

"Tch..." She scoffed. She slowly regained her composure. Why is she the one getting teased? It was always her getting a one up on someone else.

"Alright... I wanna ask you something. First of all, the name's Taiga Fujimura. What's yours, boy?" She asked, turning serious.

The boy responded with, "My name is Minato. Minato Arisato. You may call me Minato, Taiga-san."

"Minato-kun, huh? Alright, first question: why were you lying unconscious on the street?" She said, adjusting to get in a comfortable position.

"Well," Minato answered, "I do not know. I do not know how I ended up unconscious but I can remember the past. I don't have amnesia, but I can't remember how I ended up on the street."

"Huh... So do you have any relatives, any friends or family that I can tell them about you?" She answered, concerned.

"No. I'm afraid that I'm an orphan. As for my friends... Let's say they I had to leave them for personal reasons. And my other relatives are out of the question as they are gone too." He stated calmly.

"...What?" Taiga was shocked. So he was all alone? With no one to help him? How? Why? What was his story? She had all these questions she wanted to ask him, but it might be a touchy subject for him. A certain level of trust was needed for that.

"So I'm guessing you don't have any place to stay? Do you even know this city?" She questioned.

"The answer to both of your questions is no. I know nothing of this city." He answered.

_'How can he be so calm about his situation? Has he been in worse situations than this one? If so... He needs help.'_

"Please, let me help you. I may have just met you 2 hours ago, but... You're all alone. I can't just let you go after I've heard all this." She may have had a childish streak in her, but she was still a caring adult and teacher.

"I don't want to impo-" She cut him off.

"I won't take no for an answer. The least you can do for me, to stay here, is cook me food. Don't worry about the other guys that come in here, they won't mess with you. I won't allow them, you can count on it." A fiery glint sparkled in her eyes.

The boy, Minato, was silent. He was contemplating about it. Probably. After all, she insisted and didn't want no for an answer.

"...Alright." He finally said. "But please help me find a job. A boy staying with a girl will... You know."

"Oh yeah, yeah sure! I'll help you find a job so that you can find your own apartment. You seem like a mature individual and you lived with problems all your life so, I guess you can also take care of yourself. I can also apply you to the school where I work if you want!" She offered.

"Yes, I would like that." He smiled. "Thank you for taking care of me. Well, temporarily."

"No sweat! Let's clean your food up first and I'll show you to your room, ok? Your room will be next to mine. We'll be roommates!" She stated happily. She now has a charming servant that can work for her.

_'Guess I won't need to eat anything from Shirou for a while. I've got my own cook now!' _She hummed happily to herself.

"Well, let's clean up shall we? You can clean the dishes and I'll dry them." She instructed.

"Yes, ma'am." He complied. A 'master and servant' relationship was established.

They started cleaning up. A happy and relaxed atmosphere surrounded the two. She wanted to know more about him and this step was the first one.

Little did the boy know about what was going to be happening in the next couple of months.

That he walked straight out of one destiny... and walked straight into another.

* * *

_**Prologue - End**_


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1 - Settling In**_

* * *

"Hnnngg... Ahh." Taiga stretched her arms and wiped the sleep out of her eyes. It was a beautiful morning, governed by a blue and tranquil sky. A great view to start the day... and the start of living with her new 'servant'.

Yesterday, after they cleaned the dishes, she showed the said 'servant' his living quarters. The room she showed him was a traditional six-tatami mat room, that he immediately accepted to sleep in. The room was next to hers, as she had stated.

She definitely had no ulterior motives to catch him changing. She convinced herself that last night.

_'Now then... today is a Sunday, so no work. That means... I can hang out with Minato-kun all day!' _She held her cheeks and shook her head with glee. The more time to spend with Minato, the better. It was time to show him the big city now. Not that she wanted to show him off or anything when they go job hunting later on.

_'...Hm? That smell... is he already up and cooking right now?' _She sniffed the air and a satisfying smell of food wafted into her nostrils, prompting a build up of drool in her mouth.

Oh boy, it really was a great idea to bring him in. She did not regret it.

She quickly changed into her green dress and yellow and black-striped shirt and skipped over to where the smell was coming from, getting ready for the satisfying breakfast that was to come.

* * *

"Goooood morning, Minato-kun~!" She slid open the door and burst into the dining room with energy. "What are we eating on this fine morning~?"

She did a little twirl and sat down in her place at the table. She glanced over to where Minato was and saw him looking at her with a smile.

"You'll have to wait and see, Taiga-san." He switched his gaze to concentrate on his cooking, though he continued in a playful manner, "How can you be so active in the morning? Do I have to make more in order for you to stay that way? It's like I'm feeding an animal."

"Gee, I'm not an animal! Minato-kun, you're mean!" She childishly pouted and stretched her arms in front of her on the table. She inwardly smiled and thought happily about the playful quarrels they were going to share everyday from now.

"Hehe, sorry sorry. I like your energy. It's a... welcome change in the lifestyle I used to know. But no need to worry about that," he shook his head, "the food's done now."

"Alright! Let me help you set up!" She stood up and lifted her arms to the sides, like the wings of an aeroplane. She charged forward to the kitchen and lifted some of the dishes towards the dinner table.

After they finished setting the table, they sat at their respective places at either side of the table. Facing each other, they bought their hands together.

""Itadakimasu!"" They said in unison and Taiga dug in, with Minato starting as well.

She glanced at Minato and, surprisingly, he was able to keep up with her speed at eating. Swift strokes of his chopsticks showed him hounding the food before she got to them, revealing him to be quite gluttonous.

A relaxed atmosphere surrounded them while they were eating. The TV was on and the two were watching the news.

_"Yesterday, 3 more teenage girls disappeared last night. The police are still investigating the matter, but have nothing to go on at the moment. They are saying it might be a kidnapping for trafficking, but this is just speculation we have heard. This is the fif__th case of a kidnapping we've heard here in Fuyuki. We ask everyone not to go around at night as it might be dangerous. In other news..." _The news lady presenting kept talking.

"Hmm? Disappearing girls? 3 more girls and the fifth case? Is something going on?" Minato spoke.

"Ah, yeah." Taiga responded, "there recently have been cases of missing girls in these past few weeks. Guess you fell unconscious at the wrong time. And probably the wrong place too. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn't been the one to find you..." She trailed off.

"Don't worry about that." Minato shook his head in a relieving manner and smiled. "You found me and that's it; I'm grateful to you for taking me in. I just hope they find those girls soon..." Minato finished, concerned about what was just announced.

_'Seems he's got a soft side. That's good.' _Taiga thought and nodded in response to what he said.

After the delicious breakfast was done, they bought their hands together again and said, ""Thanks for the food!""

"Just perfect, Minato-kun!" Taiga said after downing her glass of water. "It's always gonna be a treat for me to eat your meals~!"

"Heh. Anytime, Taiga-san. It's always a pleasure to cook for someone else." He smiled.

She smiled back at him warmly. He's pretty and gentlemanly. A perfect husband indeed.

"So," she leaned back and started, "today we are going to go into the city! I'll be giving you a tour of the spots in the city where we can do our shopping for your clothes, any cafés to take a break at and finally, we'll be looking for a job that is perfect for you!"

"Alright, sounds good. So it's a date then?" He said nonchalantly.

"Hell yeah it's a date!" She crossed her arms and nodded her head in emphasis, "it's going to be fun and... Wait, what?" She stopped, struck dumb by his announcement.

"It's a date, right? Just the two of us, going out into the city and shopping... yeah. It's a date." He answered, smoothly.

"W-well, yeah if you want to call it that." She stroked the back of her head in embarrassment, a light blush on her cheeks. She was rather surprised at his ability to say those words bluntly. "It's just... I, umm... Never thought of it that way..."

"Oh? So it isn't a date?" His expression changed to one of sadness. "...You don't want to go out with me?"

"Wha-! Of course I do!" She replied back with haste. "Who wouldn't?! You're handsome and I would go out with you any day! You're great at cooking and pretty and..." She trailed off when she heard a snicker.

Undoubtedly, Minato was covering his mouth and was shaking mildly. A wildfire spread through her cheeks and she looked down.

_'Oh, come on! Already?!'_

Oh boy. This was fun and a little annoying at the same time. Punishment was on course for Minato.

"Minato-kun..." She muttered menacingly and darkness covered her eyes. "...do you know how bad it is... to play with a maiden's heart?"

"...You're a maiden?" He replied.

Alright. That's it. Too far.

"Why, you little...!" She was about to reach out and punch him, when she heard laughter.

She saw Minato chuckling heartily, which was apparently enough to calm her down. Also, more mental images were stored in her mind.

Minato slowly stopped laughing and gave a smooth, disarming smile.

"Sorry, sorry. You're just a lot of fun to tease, Taiga-san. You're really fun to hang out with. Even though I've only been here for one night, that's what I'm thinking." He then stood up and started clearing the table, making a clean getaway and leaving her to brood over what he said.

_'...He really has a way with words, huh?' _The heat was still on her cheeks, though the heat this time was not of anger... but of warmth and elation at his compliment.

_'He's a good kid. He's friendly, fun and very mature, something his age group seems to have a lack of. He can cook, do house chores and seems really capable of taking care of himself.' _She took a long glance in his direction. He was looking at the plates he was cleaning with a gaze of concentration, studying every inch of the plate with scrutiny. She giggled lightly at his expression.

"Alright!" She stood herself up and got close to the door. "I'm going to get ready now! I'll be in the bath if you need me. Don't peek on me, okay~?"

"Yeah yeah. I'm already ready, so I'll be waiting. Looks like I'll have to go around in my previous school's uniform... great." He frowned.

"Don't worry about it! You can change as soon as we get your clothes and you'll look more attractive than ever!" She stated.

"Thanks for the compliment, Taiga-san." He placed the plate under observation to the side. "Now, go on and get ready. I can't wait to see the city." He responded with anticipation in his voice.

"Yes, sir! I shall go now!" She saluted and ran out the door to get to the bathroom.

This was going to be a fun and exhausting day. Mostly fun though as she has plenty of energy.

* * *

"Alright, we're here!" She announced.

"Woah." He replied.

They arrived at the city centre of Fuyuki. Towering blocks of buildings surrounded them like walls. Lines of clothing shops, video game stores, book stores and other miscellaneous shops, surrounded them from all sides. Cafés, fast food and takeaway stores and fancy restaurants were also occasionally found.

"You surprised?" Taiga grinned at his one word reply.

"Yeah. I've never been to a city centre like this one." He looked around with interest, catching glances of the locals looking at him. "I mean, there was a mall where I once spent time in, but it was pretty small compared to this one."

"Oh, really? Well, get ready to exhaust yourself~. We're going on an all-out shopping spree today~!" Taiga exclaimed with excitement. She then proceeded to hook her arm around his, and dragged him off to some formal and trendy jacket store on his heels.

"Over there first! We're going to need you to keep warm because it's pretty cold out right now." She said and Minato nodded in response.

Various coats were tried on with all of the clothes that he had tried on looking good on him. Puffer vests, trench coats, parka coats and all other coats were trialled until the store was turned upside down.

Minato eventually settled on two coats for the winter that was coming; a black trench coat and a grey, double-breasted jacket.

They then moved and switched shops, leaving no store unturned throughout the day.

They even got discounts from the shops they went to. Courtesy from the shops' assistants, with a little bit from the managers as well.

Taiga mentally thanked the gods that Minato was a walking discount. She has a limited sum of money after all. Bless her fortune and luck for finding him.

By the time they finished getting his clothes, ten bags were held, stuffed with his newfound clothes. Taiga then told him to change in the public toilets, which he complied to. He came out wearing his new grey turtleneck, dark pants and his double-breasted jacket. By the time they noticed, the sun was setting and the sky was turning a dark orange. The evening was about to start.

They concluded their shopping spree and sat down on a nearby bench in a nearby square, fitted with a fancy fountain in the center. They were tired, but not out of energy just yet.

"God... I haven't went shopping like this in a long time." Minato smiled at her. "Thanks for taking me out today, Taiga-san. Though I'm willing to pay you back for the money you spent on me... Which must have been a lot. And that's when I get a job to pay you."

Taiga just shook her head. "No no, don't worry about it! I'll put it on my grandfather's tab, I'm sure he won't mind~!"

_'Speaking of which, where is he...? Would've thought he would be home by now... maybe he's taking care of some business?' _She thought.

Just then, Minato sweatdropped. She really must have spent a lot.

_'Just don't tell Minato that I've only got a couple thousand yen left... those discounts didn't really do much...' _She continued.

Her thoughts then changed to a somewhat mischievous disposition. It was now time for the punishment game for his previous comments during breakfast.

"Okay! Time for a game, Minato-kun!" She announced.

"Eh?" He spoke, looking puzzled. "A game?"

"Yes, a game! Did you forget about your comments about how I'm not a maiden?" She glared at him. "You have to be punished for that!"

"...ah. I remember now." Minato slapped his fist on his palm, with an 'I get it now' expression.

"Wha-! How could you forget?! That hurt my feelings, you know!" She huffed, crossed her arms and looked away from him, closing her eyes with a 'I'm ignoring you' expression.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry about my comment, Taiga-san. It was just a joke." He chuckled softly.

"A sorry won't be enough, Minato-kun! Therefore I'll be having you play this punishment game! No leaving or cowering out, ok~?" She wagged a finger at him in a scolding tone.

"Ok then. Tell me what the game is and I'll do it. I'm sure it'll be easy." He taunted, a smirk forming on his face.

_'Hmmm... What shall I make him do...? Nothing too embarrassing, yet not so soft either. Hmmm... Ah ha! Got it~!' _A light bulb flashed in her head.

"Alright, Minato-kun!" She stood up from the bench and pointed at him. "I want you to get every woman's phone number in this area! If you don't get one from a person, or even miss one out, you lose!" She announced her game to him.

"...Is that it?" Minato replied, blinking. "You just want me to get phone numbers? Not a kiss on the cheek, a hug or anything else like that?"

"No no! That's reserved for m- Ahem." She cut herself off quickly and a light blush formed on her cheeks. She hoped that the light from the sun covered it up.

"A-anyways, just get their phone numbers and no physical contact of any sort! Do you accept the challenge, Minato-kun?" She challenged, with both of them looking at each other with a competitive spark in their eyes.

"I accept, Taiga-san. Get ready to see my swag magic at work here." Right on cue, Minato then stood up and walked away, looking like a badass.

The next hour was passed with Minato playing Taiga's game. Taiga watched on, sitting on the bench, with all his clothes neatly tucked into the bags placed by her feet.

She observed many different reactions from the various women around. Ranging from the shy types to the fan girls, she laughed. Everyone of those girls that he talked to were either left blushing, giggling, taking second glances when he left or talking about him behind his back. She knew this would happen as she just wanted to see other girls' reactions to his advances. The game's true objective was accomplished.

_'Man... Looking at these girls makes me laugh. Then again, I'm sure if someone saw me getting teased by him, I'll be on the receiving end of the laugh.' _She thought.

She stared at him from the bench. He wasn't wearing his school uniform anymore and was instead wearing his newly bought grey turtleneck sweater, dark skinny pants and grey double-breasted jacket. Why he wore those clothes, she didn't know.

All he said was that they made him feel nostalgic.

He noticed her staring and smiled back at her. He then gave her a sneaky thumbs up to show it was going well. Her eyebrow twitched with feigned anger. Cheeky boy.

The girls he was speaking to then gave him something. A business card or something...?

_'Hmm...? What's that they gave him? Maybe money...? A coupon or something? Geez, he could get anything he wants with that look of his.'_

Minato then started walking towards her direction. Looks like he was done.

"So! How did it go~? Did you get all their numbers?" She spoke teasingly, knowing the outcome.

"It went rather well. Although..." He started. "They left me with more than just numbers."

"Uhhh," she braced herself. "What was it that they left?"

"Well... To be blunt, they touched my butt." He glanced towards Taiga's direction and saw that her eyes and mouth widening. "A bunch of excited teenagers and single mothers, even housewives, got a bit too touchy feely. I could still feel their marks... Some were soft, while others were full on grabbing it... Savouring it with their lecherous eyes, stuck on my face..." Minato grasped his shoulders and shivered.

"Wha-! Why didn't you stop them?! Didn't I say no physical contact whatsoever?!" She flared. They were so lucky! She didn't even touch him yet!

"I couldn't help it! I wouldn't have gotten their numbers then!" He came out with his excuse and continued, "Besides, I wanted to win your game. Smooth talk doesn't seem to work here... Well, it did work but there was no finisher..."

"No finisher? What are you talking about?" He was about to speak back, but she raised her hand and sighed. "Whatever. Where are the numbers then?"

He rolled up the sleeves of his jacket with ease. "Here."

Taiga gaped. Littered all over was numbers. Numbers that looked like somebody had scribbled all over it because of overlapping numbers spreading all over his sleeves. They were desperate to be the only ones on his sleeves, alright.

And anyway, where the hell did they get the pens to make a mark on him? Magic? No way.

She was bought out of her observation and stuttered, "W-W-wow! T-that's a whole lot of them! Too bad~! You don't even have a phone! Haha!" She chuckled at his surprised expression.

"Oh yeah. I don't even have a phone. Then..." Minato stared at her with a questioning gaze. "...what the heck was this 'punishment game' for?"

Taiga spoke. "I just wanted to see other women blushing to their limits. From what I've seen, you've got no shame making girls humiliate themselves, much like you did with me. This was just a way for me to take my embarrassment out; by laughing at others. Hehe... Hehehehe..." She chuckled chillingly and a dark aura surrounded her, prompting others to stay away.

"Great... so I did this for your enjoyment... looks like I'll have to clean this off then. Shall we go do our original objective now? We've pretty much got everything I need for normal clothes." He rolled down his sleeves and sighed.

She quickly nodded and said: "Yeah, sure! What job do you have in mind? A host in a club? A chef for a fancy restaurant? I wouldn't mind that!"

He smiled. "No thanks. It was a good idea, but it's only part time remember? You said that you're going to get me transferred into the school you work at, right?"

"Yeah! I'll ask at Homurahara tomorrow and I'll see to it that you get a place." _'In my class.' _She added.

"Thanks, Taiga-san. Anyways, back on point." He continued. "Can I work at a cafe? I'm sure the pay will be better than average and I have no qualms in making coffee or serving customers. I can speak from experience."

She replied, "Hmm? A cafe, you say? Let's see... There was a pretty fancy looking cafe in the district where we went shopping for your clothes. Wanna see if they have a space there?"

His eyes beamed. "Yes, that one. I was interested in that cafe particularly because it reminds me of an old one I worked part time at."

"You're always thinking about the past, huh? I suppose that's a good thing." She shrugged. "Get yourself cleaned up first and then we'll be going. We're going to get you the job for sure~!" She pumped her fist in the air excitedly.

"Alright. Let's try our best and get that job!" He repeated the gesture and smiled. "I'll clean this off now, so take care of the shopping, okay?" She nodded in response and he trailed off to the public toilets.

_'He really is fun to hang out with. Never before have I been out on a date with somebody that's this much fun!'_ She then cut off her thoughts suddenly.

_'...ah. Did I just consider this a date? Damn Minato, saying it's a date out of the blue! I'm older than him, but it looks like he doesn't care... He's about 15 or 16 years old, while I'm 24. That's a pretty big gap...'_ She quickly dismissed those thoughts and shook her head. What was she doing, thinking they were on a date? Besides, she's only known him since last night.

_'Oh well... A woman can dream, can't she?' _She concluded her train of thought when Minato came out. She greeted cheerfully and he returned it. She then led the way to the shop with Minato following closely. Little did she know that her heart was filled with a small faint bitterness.

* * *

They arrived at the fancy cafe Taiga had mentioned. Business was pretty good as people were now taking breaks from whatever they were doing and that now that it's evening, it was time to sit back and relax.

"Alright then! Let's go in there and own this joint~!" She raised her hand and said out loud.

"Are you sure they have spaces? I don't really think they need more people in there..." Minato asked.

She waved him off with her hand. "Don't think like that, Minato-kun! You need more spirit! Come on, let's go in!" And she entered with Minato behind.

"Welcome! Would you like a table or takeaw...ay..." One of the attendants serving other customers came up and greeted her. The attendant wore a fine suit which consisted of a white polo, black waistcoat, black tie, black short skirt and black stockings. Her features looked cute with puffed cheeks and her hair was tied in the twin-tail style, though the tails she adorned were short. She was also quite well endowed, if her bust was any clue. She was only looking at Taiga, but when she glanced behind her, she trailed off of her welcoming speech and stared at the blue haired bishounen behind her, looking around the store with interest.

"Umm..." Taiga waved her hand in front of her eyes. "...hello? Ground control to attendant, can you respond?"

The attendant snapped out of her trance, stuttered and bowed to her. "S-s-sorry! W-w-what did you want?" She looked like she was trying hard to stare at her face. What betrayed her were obvious glances towards Minato's direction.

"Right..." Taiga sighed. "Well, we're looking for a job in this fine cafe. Do you have a space?"

"H-huh? A job space here? I'll have to speak to the manager about that." She took a look around her and quieted her voice, so that Taiga was the only one that could hear. "Umm... d-does he want to work here?" A fairly faint blush adorned her cheeks.

Taiga smiled at her and teasingly said, "You would like that wouldn't you~? Hey hey, tell me, he's really charming isn't he~?"

Her face then burned and she withdrew. "E-e-e-excuse me!" She walked with a fast pace to the back room, probably to ask the manager for a space. Or to escape from the 'Tiger'.

Taiga looked back to see Minato staring at her quizzically. "What was that about? She was rushing and nearly tripped over herself. Did something happen?"

Taiga replied, "Well~, you have to ask her that yourself shouldn't you?" She grinned.

She turned around and thought, _'Ahh, youth. So young and innocent.'_

They waited for around a minute and the shop assistant came back, now in control.

"Please come with me. The manager wants to s-speak with you." She stuttered when Minato looked at her. Taiga grinned at him.

They started following behind her, trailing the main path that led to the back room. She slowed down to Minato's pace and nudged him in the arm, getting his attention.

"Hey hey." She whispered in his ears. "You got an admirer."

He rolled his eyes. "Like I haven't heard that one before. Also, you might want to step back a bit." He leaned in really close to her ear. "She looks like she's getting jealous."

She leapt back because he was getting too close. Her cheeks were stained red from the distance of his oh so, soft and velvety smooth voice. She faced forward to see the young assistant looking at her with a pouting expression and a blush on her cheeks. Oh, she was jealous alright.

The assistant turned away with a 'Hmph!' and entered the staff room. Taiga glared at Minato, the heat still visible on her cheeks.

"You intentionally did that to incur her jealousy, didn't you, you jerk..." She voiced angrily.

"What do you mean, Taiga-san? I didn't do anything." He shrugged as if he didn't do anything and also followed the assistant into the staff room.

Taiga sighed and slumped her shoulders in defeat. _'I can't catch him off guard can't I...'_

She fixed herself and followed the playboy into the staff room as well.

* * *

"So," the manager started. "You, Arisato-kun, want to work here?"

"Yes. Is there a problem, miss?" Minato replied.

Taiga entered to see a buxom woman with raven dark hair tied into a ponytail, sitting in front of Minato. She was staring at Minato with evaluating eyes. She was also wearing the same as the twin-tailed assistant's uniform, though it was bigger considering her stature.

The shy (and jealous) girl was also there, sitting silently behind what seemed to be the manager of the cafe. She still had that jealous look on her face.

_'Seems like that's their uniform... Looks cool. Wonder what Minato would look like in that...' _Taiga pondered and she imagined Minato serving tea or coffee to her, with him smiling, calling her miss, pouring the milk into her cup and...

She shook off those thoughts. First, they were improper for an adult like her and secondly, was the fact that the raven haired woman was constantly crossing her legs in front of the boy.

The assistant girl also noticed this and gripped her hands. Oh, she forgot about the competition? And the fact that the manager would try to sway him as well? Life is never that easy, girl.

Minato seemed to not notice this constant moving or he was just simply ignoring it. His cyan coloured eyes never left the manager's face for even a second.

"Well, I want to have a test first." The manager was still 'adjusting' her position on her chair and continued. "I want you to make me a cup of coffee, tea or whatever and serve it to me. Pretend I'm the customer."

Taiga and the assistant girl widened their eyes. That devious woman was using her authority as manager to get servant-like treatment from the bluenette.

"Understood. Is that all I have to do?" Minato responded.

The woman nodded and stood up. "We'll be doing it in the shop and you can use the machines there." She walked past Minato and Taiga and walked out the room.

"Well then," Minato looked back at her. "Let's go too."

The assistant and Taiga followed Minato out of the room. Once out, they found the manager standing behind the counter, where they made the coffee.

The manager spoke, "Do you need to know how to use this machine? I can teach you if you want." Taiga managed to catch a little bit of an alluring tone in her voice.

Minato shook his head. "Nope. I don't use machines. I only need my hands."

The manager raised an eyebrow. "Really now? Alright then, show me what you got."

"Will do. Hold this for me please, Taiga-san." He proceeded to take off his jacket and lifted it towards her.

Before Taiga could take it though, the twin-tailed assistant snatched it off his hands. She sent a smirk of victory towards Taiga, who had a surprised look on her face. Minato sent a smile towards them and winked at the girl with his only visible eye that could be seen. She looked down in embarrassment and was smiling happily from his gesture.

"Right then. Let's do this." Minato rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

Taiga, the manager and the twin-tailed girl watched on to see Minato handling the ingredients to make coffee with finesse. His hands were quickly moving, adding the coffee beans into the grinder, crushing them, putting them into a cup when finished, and so on.

After 30 seconds, he had made 3 steaming and fresh cups of coffee and placed them in front of the 3 women.

"Here you go ladies. My own way of doing coffee. You might feel a side effect." Minato stated, which left the girls wondering.

"May I ask what this side effect is?" The manager replied and took a sniff of the fresh drink in front of her. She widened her eyes. The smell was of coffee, but... it somehow smelled sweeter than the normal coffee she had. She stared at Minato and he looked at her with a smooth smile.

"You'll find out when you drink." He winked and turned around to wash his hands.

The girls stared at the cups on the counter. Steam was smoothly wafting upwards, enticing them to take a sip. They gulped.

All was silent. The store, it's employees and customers, gazed at the three of them. Looks like they were intrigued by either the boy, the 'unique' coffee or both. Filled with anticipation for their judgment on the cup of coffee made by the charming youth, the pressure was on them.

It was now or never.

Minato finished cleaning and wiped his hands off. Once done, he turned to them and waited patiently.

Without a word, all three of them grabbed their respective cups and bought them to their mouths. They drank and swallowed.

They widened their eyes. An otherworldly and euphoric taste, overthrew their senses. A warm feeling of desire filled their stomachs. They quickly drank the rest, their sense of taste drowning out the scalding burn in their throats.

They finished and placed their cups on the counter with a 'pop!'. They wiped their mouths with their sleeves and stared at Minato with wonder and curiosity in their eyes.

Two words were spoken as they were the only ones that needed to be said.

"You're hired." The manager stated.

Minato smiled.

"Thank you."

And the store went wild.

* * *

"Phew..." Minato breathed out. He was panting, a little out of breath.

"You're... not... out of... breath...?" Taiga managed to speak out.

They were currently on the bus back on the route to Taiga's residence, regaining their breath. After the "job interview" at the cafe, all the customers, even the employees, scrambled to Minato to try and get a taste of his unique coffee.

Minato was, luckily, protected by a barricade consisting of the manager, the twin-tailed girl and some other helpful employees that didn't get overcome by their desire to taste his concoction.

Although it was a royal rumble of sorts, fortunately, no one was hurt.

As the surge of customers didn't look like it was going to end, they covered Minato and made a path to get to the staff room. The manager managed to look back at him and said to get a spare uniform from the only cabinet in the room. Once she saw a nod, she continued to tell him to escape through the back entrance of the store, located in the staff room.

Minato quickly grasped Taiga's left wrist and dragged her with him into the room. Him and Taiga located the uniform quickly and escaped through the back. Unfortunately, some of the customers caught the manager's comments and were waiting for him outside.

This led to the both of them running out of breath. Well, one of them. How she managed to also keep all of their shopping in her hands, was a mystery.

"Huh? I guess I am. Just a little out of breath." Minato replied. He was wearing his jacket again, when the twin-tailed employee managed to hand it over during the struggle.

"Just... a... little..., huh?" Taiga spoke. "How... the hell... are you... not... tired yet...?"

"Physical conditioning. Lots and lots of it." Minato replied.

_'What required you to have this much stamina?! We ran for who knows how long! And I barely even caught up with you when we were running!'_ Taiga mentally retorted. Mental images of him dragging her off of her heels flashed through her mind. She very nearly tripped over everything in the way while running.

"By the way..." Taiga regained her breath and steadied her breathing. She continued, "What was the, um, side effect of your coffee?"

Minato looked at her with surprise. "Oh? You didn't feel it? Thought you would have noticed."

Taiga stared back at him. "What was I supposed to be feeling exactly? Is it supposed to be bad?"

"No, definitely not. Let's see..." Minato stared at the ceiling in contemplation. He looked back at her after a moment. "Were you feeling warm? Was everything you saw around you, your vision, more colourful?"

"Yeah. Once I took the drink in the cafe and finished it, everything was more brighter and a warm feeling was flooding my body. It felt pretty good. Why do you ask?" She questioned.

"Ok well, the drink was a normal coffee. Apparently, from feedback, my so-called 'variation' of normal coffee raises the charm of the one drinking it." He answered back.

Taiga widened her eyes. What? What he made was normal coffee? What she had drank was not normal at all.

"Really? So I look more prettier in the eyes of others?" Her face bore a wide grin. "Well well well, Minato-kun! Tell me, do I look pretty now~?" She purred.

Minato looked at her and smiled a charming smile.

"You've always looked pretty, Taiga-san. I've always thought that." "Wha-?!"

At the end of his speech, Taiga blushed an almighty red. Too smooth, WAY too smooth. _'Come on, Taiga! Stop leading him and giving him the chance!' _She berated herself in her thoughts.

"Geez, Minato! Do you always speak to girls this way? I swear you're the enemy of all the girls around, with your sweet talk and skills!" Taiga exclaimed.

In return, Minato just chuckled. "Well, all the girls loved it. Though they always get embarrassed, they come back for more. Are you one of those girls?"

"No! I'm just trying to get you back for all the humiliation you caused!" She pointed at him. "You owe me a delicious, WAY more delicious dinner when we get home!"

Minato slowed his chuckling and smiled. "Sure thing, Taiga-san."

Afterwards, they got dropped off at the nearest bus stop and walked the rest of the way home, talking about things like her job and the school he was soon going to be placed at.

The rest of the evening went by smoothly. Minato made an even more delicious dinner as per requested by Taiga. She was obviously very pleased.

And then the day ended. It was a rather hectic and a lot of energy was used, but one thing was certain...

It was one of the best days she's ever had in her life. Ever.

* * *

_**Chapter 1 - End**_

* * *

**A/N: Hello and welcome to the next chapter of my story! I was really surprised from the positive feedback that I had gained from the reviews from readers and I really, really thank you for that! Seeing how people were saying that it was a good start, made me really happy. Anyways, consider this a filler chapter about the life that Minato will now live... for now. Also went a bit longer this time, as I went 2k+ words over my wanted word limit. The word limit might be a bit sporadic for future chapters, but we'll see.**

**See you next time! (and thank you for the reviews!)**


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2 - Ordinary Days**_

* * *

_Fire.  
__Death.  
__Fear.  
__Despair.  
__Red.  
__Hurt.  
__Pain.  
__Unbearable.  
__Still.  
__Stand.  
__Feel.  
__Agony.  
__Heat.  
__Searing.  
__Hot.  
__Walk.  
__Ache.  
__Hurt.  
__Dust.  
__Ashes.  
__Eyes.  
__Watering.  
__Tears.  
__Walk.  
__Limp.  
__Look.  
__Destruction.  
__Grief.  
__Anger.  
__Sadness.  
__People.  
__Alive.  
__Injured.  
__Corpses.  
__Debris.  
__Trip.  
__Fall.  
__Pain.  
__Ground.  
__Taste.  
__Gravel.  
__Ashes.  
__Arms.  
__Push.  
__Up.  
__Arms.  
__Give.  
__Fall.  
__Ground.  
__Sting.  
__Cuts.  
__Burns.  
__Grit.  
__Bearable.  
__Again.  
__Arms.  
__Push.  
__Up.  
__More.  
__Crawl.  
__Drag.  
__Move.  
__Little.  
__Give.  
__In.  
__Turn.  
__Face.  
__Up.  
__Sky.  
__Dark.  
__Black.  
__Weak.  
__Tired.  
__Exhausted.  
__Sight.  
__Fading...  
__...  
__...  
__...  
__...  
__...  
__...?  
__Hear.  
__Steps.  
__Open.  
__Eyes.  
__Blurry.  
__Face.  
__Smile._

_...relief?_

* * *

A pair of eyes shoot open. Sweating mildly all over, panting quickly and heart beating at a considerably fast rate than normal, the young man steadied his breath.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. The boy repeated this simple step until he regulated his breathing. He then frowned once done, thoughts circulating his head at a rapid pace.

_'...That dream again. Why is it popping up now? I don't want to dream about it anymore... Then again, I can't just forget about it...' _He put a hand to his forehead and wiped the remaining sweat away. He breathed out slowly again and dismissed his previous thoughts.

"No time to think about that now. What time is it..." He glanced at his clock on the wall of his room. "Ok, good. Got loads of time to prepare for school." He spoke to nobody. He nodded to himself and set course for his plans to get ready. First off, take a shower and get rid of the sweat that had built up on his body.

The red-haired boy got up and went straight ahead to the bathroom in his moderately large house. Walking across the many hallways of his traditional Japanese home, the sun was shining bright just like the day before. He couldn't help but admire the sun's rays beaming down on his home and casting beautiful shadows across the wooden floor. A normal, serene day. A day that he would enjoy.

Even if he didn't consider himself normal.

He reached the bathroom and started to clean himself of his sweat.

* * *

After the boy finished his morning rituals that included some workouts, breakfast and other things, he got dressed into his Homurahara Academy uniform and set off. It was a school day after all. After a while of walking down the route to school, his thoughts glazed to his 'guardian', who missed out on his culinary skills last night.

_'Where was Fuji-nee on Saturday evening and yesterday? I know she's only been missing for one night and one day, but she normally would've been eating at mine... especially if it's the weekend...' _The redhead contemplated. It was rather weird for a certain animal to be missing out on his specialties. In fact, she would never be missing out on any of his dinners. Sure, there were some instances where she missed them, but most of the time she would come over and hound on them. Unless...

_'Don't tell me...' _He mused about the thought, blinking in disbelief at it. _'...has she finally learnt how to cook?' _No way. No chance. More like no hope.

He shook his head and stopped in his journey to school, still in his own thoughts and missing the strange glances thrown his way. That thought... would probably never happen. As long as he was living on this earth and still able to cook, she would be there.

As fast as it came to his head, the thought was dismissed just as much. He continued walking, though he was still thinking. It was probably something school related and not something so exaggerated. Even so, it could eventually happen. It was a far away dream, but a dream nonetheless. Why did that even pop up in his head? She's pretty lazy when it comes to physical labour.

"Ah, hey! Emiya!"

He was bought out of his musing as he heard a feminine (somewhat deep) voice calling for him. He looked back and saw a young woman, making her way towards him at a fast pace, hand in the air in a greeting manner.

"Oh hey, Mitsuzuri. How you doing?" He waved at her and slowed down to allow her to catch up.

"I'm doing good, Emiya. How are you doing?" The girl named Mitsuzuri greeted back and matched his walking pace. She was wearing the typical Homurahara uniform, albeit the female version. A dark skirt, a white dress shirt with red trimmings on her collar and cuffs, along with a thin light brown waistcoat adorned her slim build. She may look pretty manly, but she was still good looking in a tomboyish way.

"I'm doing good, just as always. A new week, yet the same school days. The only thing that's noteworthy is the good weather." He answered with a smile.

"Ah, yeah. That's true. Come to think of it, it's been pretty good lately. Maybe it's a sign..." She put her hand on her chin in a contemplating manner.

"Mm. Maybe it is." He looked forwards to where they were headed, looking for another topic to talk about. "So, how's the Archery Dojo been? Is it still doing great?"

"Mhmm! It's still going strong. We've got a bunch of new hopeful first-year students that are pretty eager to start now." She smiled with a hopeful tone, which caused Shirou to smile back as well. Sounds like the Archery Dojo is still in good spirits.

She continued, "The new guys are kind of split up into groups. Some of them don't have any experience with the bow, while the others have some or more experience. Nevertheless, all of them are showing a lot of interest in doing the club, which is really exciting! I can't wait to see them grow up. Although..." Her previous smile now turned into a frown and Shirou noticed a faint bit of annoyance in her tone. "There has been some trouble in the club lately..."

He looked at her. "...I'm guessing it's Shinji again?"

She nodded. "Yeah. He's kinda getting out of hand; scaring the first years and whatnot. His arrogant side has been a showing a lot more often now. I wonder what's up his ass this time." She scoffed at the end of her comment.

He smiled sheepishly. "Well, that's Shinji for you. Who knows what his problem is, this time round. It seems like he's got a load of problems all the time, now that I think about it."

She smirked. "That means he's got a lot of sticks up his ass then, doesn't it?" She slapped him in the back playfully and Shirou scratched his head.

"Now come on, don't say that. What has he done to you?" She looked up to the sky to think, but after 3 seconds she replied back with a 'matter of fact' tone.

"He's annoyed me too many times to count. His superior attitude towards anyone he meets, is too much to handle and so very aggravating." She sighed. "Hasn't he done that to you? He talks to everyone like that, doesn't he?"

"W-well," Shirou stuttered, "Yes, he has many times, I will admit that. But he does have some good traits..."

Mitsuzuri raised an eyebrow towards him. "Oh, does he now? I don't really want to figure out these traits and I'm sure he doesn't even know he has these 'good traits', but please enlighten me."

"Ok then. Don't tell him I told this to you but..." He started speaking about Shinji Matou's so-called 'good traits'. By the end of it, Mitsuzuri was wide eyed. What Emiya said about him was, pretty much, not good traits.

Who directly insults someone after thanking them for a good job? He also said that he did it many times, but he thinks that Shinji was genuinely thankful. _Thinks_ being the keyword. Maybe he was, but during the time she was listening, she did not think so. The young man was too high up on his horse to bring himself to thank Emiya Shirou, the ex-ace of the Archery Club.

"Ok. I think I get it now." She lied. He had spent the majority of the walk to school talking about Shinji's apparent good side, and she had gotten rather bored. By the time they had reached the gate, he had stopped his rambling.

"Anyways, Emiya. Come by and sort out your friend's attitude towards the young ones, eh?" She waited for his reply.

"Yeah, sure. I'll come by after school, yeah? I'll make sure to cool him down." Shirou replied.

She smiled. "Thanks, Emiya. I'll be seeing you. Bye bye!" She waved and they separated at the gates.

He smiled and waved in return. After she was out of view, a frown formed his face. He has a lot of stuff to do today.

First things first, find and speak to Fuji-nee... if she's even here.

* * *

_*snore*_

"...n." A noise.

_*snore*_

"...an." A sound.

_*quiet breathing sounds*_

"...-san." A quiet mumbling.

"...ehehe..." Taiga giggled lightly, still in the universe of dreams.

"...a-san?" Sounds of floorboards creaking.

"...hehehe... no, don't~..." Her head moves and she turns slightly, still in her sleep.

"...ey? ...ga-san?" A sound that is barely audible.

_*more light breathing noises*_

"...hehe...hehehe... so soft~..." Mumbling slightly, she grabbed at her duvet (?).

"...ummm... aiga-san...?" A gentle shake got rid of some of her drowsiness... but not enough.

"...nooo... don't leave..." More sleep talk.

A sigh. "Taiga-san. Wake up." A gentle, yet firmer shake finally got rid of most of her drowsiness.

"...ah? ...huh?" An imaginary bubble burst from her open and drooling mouth. She slowly opened her eyes and she saw a blurry blue colour from the left of her vision.

"You awake now, Taiga-san?" The blue colour spoke more clearly now.

"Uhhh... yeah?" She blinked to clear her vision. Once finished, she saw Minato staring down at her with a blank look.

"...eh? Minato-kun?" She sat up and took her back off of the futon, stretching and yawning all the while. "...why are you here?"

"It's the morning already, Taiga-san. I came to wake you up." He switched his gaze to the outside. "You were sleeping quite deeply and I made breakfast. I ate my bit and I'm already ready to go to work today."

"Eh? So, that means..." She looked to the side. 45 minutes left until the start of school. "HUUUUHHH?!" She yelled and her eyes widened. What?! That late?! She has so much to do to get ready!

"...I'm guessing you're late?" Minato replied.

"Yeah! Dammit! I have to eat your breakfast, clean myself, get ready for school, ride there... Argh!" She grimaced because of all the things she has to do. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?! I don't think I could do all those things in 45 minutes!" She glared in his direction.

"I was trying to. You were just sleeping too deeply, and... can you take your hand off of mine first?" He gestured towards the said subject and she followed.

"Huh? Oh!" Taiga's eyes widened. When had she done that? "S-sorry! I must've done that when I was asleep!"

He simply smiled back. "Nah, don't worry. You shouldn't apologise for something like that." Before she could reply back, he stood up and held a hand out to her. "Come on, let's get you ready for the day."

"O-ok-okay. Th-thanks." She blushed a little bit at his prince-like gesture. She must still be in her dream. If this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up anytime soon. Too bad it was reali-

Oh. Wait. Reality was perfect. Scratch that.

He lifted her up onto her feet and lead the way to the dining room, Taiga following behind. He began, "You don't have to eat all the things that I made this morning. Just enough to fill you up." He looked back at her with his only visible eye in view. "Besides, I thought this would happen. I could have woken you up more forcefully, but you looked like you were enjoying yourself." He smiled. "So, I took the liberty of preparing some bento for you to eat when you're at school."

Her eyes sparkled. "Really?! Homemade bento from you?! Thanks a lot, Minato-kun!" She bought her hands together and skipped towards him in happiness. If she could hug him right now, she would.

With the smile still on his face, he turned around to face her. "I've made two portions for you because you might have an empty stomach by the time it gets to lunch. It should be able to fill you up for the rest of the afternoon." He finished as they had reached the dining room.

"Eat up, Taiga-san. This breakfast is for you." Set up on the table were breakfast dishes that prompted her to salivate. She gulped. She had to hold herself back to just relax and eat this while missing out on school completely. It seems like his skills were enough to tempt her to miss school.

She sat down on her side of the table while Minato sat on his. She bought her hands together and spoke, "Itadakimasu!"

She grabbed her chopsticks and started chomping down on the breakfast from heaven with much gusto. She had already finished one dish when Minato began, "As I said before, I'll be going to work today. I'm going to talk to the manager about the work times and hopefully I'll be back in time to make dinner."

"Mmm! Okay~!" Taiga gulped down her food as fast she could and replied back. "I'll ask the faculty at Homurahara to try and get you a place. It might take forever, but I think I'll be able to get you in. I'll tell you the progress of your place when you get home, okay?"

Minato nodded and stood up, seeing as she finished his breakfast. "Sure and thanks. You should probably get yourself ready now. I'll clean the plates and stuff."

Taiga was now energised and stood up. "Alright! I can now go the whole day! Thanks for the breakfast, Minato-kun! I'll go get ready now and I'll see you later!" He smiled at her and waved her out. She waved back and ran out the room to get ready for work.

It had taken her 15 minutes to eat, clean and get dressed, leaving her 30 minutes to ride the rest of the way to school. It was a rather rushed job, though she managed to accomplish it. Probably because of his breakfast.

Once finished, she was standing at the entrance of her home. And then she yelled, "Minato-kun! Come over here for a sec!"

She heard the floorboards creaking and the sound was coming closer. She peeked at her watch to check the time. 28 minutes remaining.

_'Hope I get there in time...' _She thought idly.

"Hm? What's up, Taiga-san? You need me?" She looked up.

"W-woah..." She stuttered and her eyes widened slightly. Minato was wearing his work uniform and boy, it looked good. Just like always.

The clothes that they retrieved the day before was, of course, the male variation. A pair of dark black pants replaced the woman's variation of the skirt. A fine piece of formal wear, minus the blazer and instead adorning the formal waistcoat.

But on Minato... a true model. Truly better than the ones seen on TV. Taiga mentally fist-pumped in grace.

"Taiga-san? Something wrong?" She was bought back to the real world by Minato, who had come closer.

"Ah! No, nothing's wrong." She smirked. "I was just admiring your attire. It looks really good on you, Minato-kun! You clean up really well!"

He smiled back in thanks. "Thank you. I think I'm ready to serve some customers right now. Although, I think it's a little bit tight..." He adjusted his sleeves on his shirt, trying to get a more comfortable position for his arms.

_'Oh wow... guess that's what training does to your body, huh? More eye candy for all women around then.' _She thought while looking at him. He looked skinny when seen from a distance, but up-close was quite a different story. But it depended on whether or not his clothes were thick or not though. These clothes were obviously quite thin.

He found her staring and, of course, he was about to tease her about it. Seeing a chance to escape from embarrassment, she took it.

"Aaaaanyways, I've got some money here for your bus to the city. You know the way to and from right?" She handed him some money from her bag and grinned smugly in her mind.

A brief flicker of amusement passed in Minato's eye and she managed to catch it. "Yeah, I think so. Thanks for the money. I'll be sure to buy some more ingredients when I'm on the way back as well. We're running out." Minato stored his bus fare in his pockets. "I think you should be going now. I'll leave a little bit after you. Need to finish up here first."

Taiga nodded in reply. "Okay. Take care when you leave, alright? And also remember to lock the whole place up! Good luck on your new job! See ya, Minato-kun!" She exited the house and waved at Minato, who was waving back.

"Bye bye, Taiga-san! You take care too!" He replied back.

She then started her scooter and drove off towards Homurahara Academy.

* * *

Shirou sighed to himself. He had just wasted his time looking for Taiga around the school, only to find out that she clearly wasn't here yet. He sighed in resignation again and slumped on top of his desk, seemingly giving up.

Of course, considering her laziness that she normally exudes, she just might have been late. He took a quick glance at the clock in his classroom, 2-C, and 5 minutes had already passed, signalling the start of homeroom but... the teacher was yet to be seen.

_'Come on... where are you?' _Shirou thought. He considered all the options that caused her to be late. Laziness, traffic, hasn't woken up yet or... something happened.

Thinking and concentrating more deeply, Shirou's expression was now fixed into a slightly concerned and worried look. Did something happen? She WAS missing on Saturday evening and the whole day on Sunday.

_'Nah. I think I'm thinking WAY too deeply in this. It is Fuji-nee after all...' _He shook his head. His thoughts were making him overthink things and it does not help in the least, if something really had happened to her. It may be a thought to keep in mind though...

"Alright! I am not late!" Erase that. Looks like he didn't need to worry after all.

Taiga burst into the classroom, panting slightly at the pace she used while traversing the stairs. "Settle down, guys! I may be late, but now that I'm here, you need to quiet down!" She hushed the class down and proceeded to walk to the teacher's podium, almost tripping over nothing on the way. Shirou smiled to himself. Yep, no need to worry.

She managed to steady herself and got to the podium, while hearing giggles from the students. She cleared her mouth. "Ahem! Now that I have your attention and before we start homeroom, I've got some news for you!" Shirou perked his ears. She visibly smiled and her visage was growing increasingly excited.

Perhaps to a normal student's eye, Taiga's energetic manner would be excused. After having her as their homeroom teacher for a couple of years, they had gotten used to it. She had a reputation of being the bright, yet childish teacher after all. But for Shirou, who had spent the majority of his childhood under her care, his eye managed to spot some of the emotions coming from her that people wouldn't see cross her cheerful visage.

What he had seen from her expressions and her stature, was warmth, happiness and... what?

It was a small and very, very faint feeling that he had managed to catch from her. A small, budding seed of emotion that would undoubtedly bloom into something big. It seemed that even Taiga didn't know about it just yet. Hell, it very nearly passed under his nose.

But Shirou caught it and immediately understood this hidden emotion. After all, he had seen it when she was hanging around his father, back when he was a kid.

This made Shirou gaze at her with a confused expression. When did she get this very, very, VERY faint emotion? Did it have something to do with her being missing on Saturday evening and Sunday? Has she even gotten over her crush on his father? If so... who is the guy who has gotten her attention? More questions will need to be asked.

He continued listening to his surrogate sister's speech. "Everyone! Our class is, hopefully, going to have the honour of getting a new transfer student!" All of the students wore an interested expression at the news. Then, the questions came.

"Excuse me, sensei." A male student raised his hand. "Hm? Have you got a question for me, Ryuudou-kun?"

The student council president promptly stood up. "Yes. As I'm sure that everyone here is interested in this new transfer student, I will ask: is this transfer a boy or a girl?" All students looked towards Taiga in anticipation and Shirou looked to her as well, interested about the news.

Taiga smiled at the class. "I won't reveal much about the new guy as I want it to be a surprise, but I will be telling you that the student is... a boy! Girls, you're in for a treat!" She cheerfully closed one eye and pointed a thumbs up to the class, striking a pose.

The girls were now even more intrigued, as Taiga had told them that the new student was a male. She even told them that they were in for a 'treat' and this got her more questions from the students; specifically the female populace of the class.

"Sensei! I have a question!" A young girl stood up to ask. Taiga nodded and made a gesture, signalling to say the question and still maintaining the smile. Shirou noted the increasingly growing brightness in her smile.

"Sensei, is the student handsome? We have yet to see an actual bishounen in school here." She said excitedly, along with her fellow females who were chatting amongst themselves.

A symphony (more like cacophony) of sounds like 'Tch', sighs and scoffs were heard from the male half in return to the female's degrading comment. They then turned to Shirou with hopeful glances sent his way. He just looked at them, a puzzled face replacing his former neutral expression.

"W-what?" Shirou said. The male half just sighed and shook their heads in unison, returning their gazes towards the teacher's podium. Even Issei shook his head and sighed as well.

_'What was that about?' _Shirou mused. Why did the rest of the males look at him at that moment? And also, he noticed in the corner of his eyes that some of the girls were giggling when they looked at him and that they had slight pink tinges on their cheeks. Why was that? Was something about him funny?

Shirou ruffled his hair in irritation. Those were questions that bothered him all the time. It had happened to him many times before, when the girls giggled in his direction. Were they making fun of him? That's pretty mean. Not to mention that it made him hurt a little on the inside.

Inside the mind of Emiya Shirou, he didn't think that he was popular. Average looks, humble attitude, mature personality and average grades, this is what he thought people would think of him.

Contrary to his thoughts, he was actually quite popular within his school's peers.

He WAS the retired ace of the Archery Club and he actually had greater than average grades, placing him in the top third of his year. This warranted more than enough attention from the females and envy from the males, though his nature of doing 'odd' jobs in school diverted him enough to not notice this attention.

How he managed to divert himself from his increasing popularity for almost two years, boggled the minds of the people who knew him.

Hence the fact that all the boys in the class were thinking the same thing.

Emiya Shirou is THE most clueless and densest teenager in the whole school, with a popularity status that every male would probably kill for.

"I won't tell you anything about him. That'll just ruin the surprise for you guys~." Taiga responded back.

Her message left all the girls wondering and excited about this new mystery student. They were now chatting amongst each other more loudly than before and the males were scowling, uttering curses under their breath at this new student.

A certain blue haired boy sneezed and felt a cold sweat on his back, whilst at work.

"One last thing I should tell you guys about him. He'll hopefully be arriving in a couple of weeks time! I don't know the exact date of his arrival, but it shouldn't be too long!" Taiga announced.

"Ehhh? So sensei doesn't know? Awww~." The females said simultaneously.

Taiga waved her hand at them. "Now now, don't worry. The wait will be worth it. You can count on that!" She then winked and struck her previous pose again. "Ah! And also, exams are coming up in 2 weeks! You better start studying now!"

The class was, for some reason, a perfect orchestra today. Moans of exaggerated grief were heard throughout the class of 2-C. Shirou didn't mind it, but he chose not to join in and instead smiled towards his classmates.

_'I guess they're excited about the new student, huh? Speaking of him...' _Shirou's thoughts revolved. More questions popped up for Taiga to answer. Especially the discreet way that she popped the news towards them. It almost sounded like she knew the student.

_'I'll have to wait 'till lunch time, I guess. But for now, let's concentrate on lessons.' _He put aside his questions to ask as homeroom was starting. But one question lingered, as he looked around the classroom.

_'Where's Shinji?'_

* * *

**_Lunchtime..._**

It was now lunch time. One would normally be happy for this time of school, as it's the time to be eating, socialising and taking a break from school lessons. But right now, one student couldn't bring herself to indulge in the relaxation of lunch time.

On the outside, she kept a dignified air that exuded pride. That air almost never extinguished and the way she carried herself off of her heels, all the students in the hallway couldn't help but admire her and stare. They were obviously attracted to her and some of the girls envied her for her bewitching beauty. But that was just a front.

Being one of the most admired (and beautiful) students in school, Tohsaka Rin had a guise to maintain. On the outside, an almost prestigious yet humble exterior was painted on her graceful features. Truly fitting for an heiress like her. But on the inside... it was a different story.

She was currently conjuring up a storm of questions in her mind. And this situation was not one to take lightly.

_'What the hell was that big spike in prana?' _Right now, Rin was coming up with theories in her mind. She was currently rummaging every inch of her brain for any logical reason for the very recent outbreak of prana that appeared in Fuyuki, just as fast as it had disappeared.

She had felt the prana release on Saturday and hell... it was big. It was like a huge bomb was dropped on a part of Fuyuki and a few minutes after she had felt it, she went to the affected area, a small park in the outskirts of the city.

The area itself was, oddly enough, untouched. She had expected something at least big enough to coincide with the amount of prana released, as the mana was not so much depleted in the area. Whatever happened there, a lot of od was needed. She looked around the area and found no clues as to finding out whatever happened there. It was the evening after all and nobody would've been hanging around a park like that at that time. And the culprit might've escaped by the time she arrived.

_'What could've possibly happened there...? The od that had to have been used... an abnormal amount. Who could possibly have that much od...? And what happened? What's going on?' _Rin was fuming on the inside, though it did not show on the outside. She had been coming up with all the possible solutions that her brain could wrack up... but it got her nowhere. She had no clues to get a lead as to what happened and so she decided to investigate the area once again, later on today.

It was her duty as Second Owner of Fuyuki City to supervise all supernatural activity that happens in the territory. And so far for this case, it was quite supernatural. How this ridiculous burst of prana came to be, she had to find out. It was quite worrying to find a release in prana that could be felt from even her house, being only a few miles away. Especially when there are no clues as to what the hell happened...

...and that there could be a magus that is doing something in her city without her knowing and permission.

She kept those thoughts in her mind for later. Right now, it was time to figure out her game plan in order to find out what happened in that area and when she finds one clue, it's time to play detective.

Ignoring the looks of her classmates and the obvious chatter that she only managed to hear bits of (something about a new student?), she headed towards the roof of the school to contemplate about what to do.

* * *

_**Meanwhile, in a hallway, still lunchtime...**_

"Fujimura-sensei!" Shirou yelled towards Taiga in the second-year hallway in school.

"Hm? Shirou~?" Taiga looked back to see Shirou waving at her to come over. She skipped towards him in a happy manner, making Shirou smile crookedly at her and scratched his neck awkwardly. Good ol' Fuji-nee. Never ages, never changes.

"What's up, Shirou? Do you need something? If you're here to give me lunch, don't worry! I've got it covered~!" Taiga shot a thumbs up at him and Shirou looked back at her, a puzzled expression settling on his face. She was holding a tied up bento in her hand, seemingly ready to eat it.

"What? No, Fujimura-sensei, I want to ask you something. Nuh uh uh, not about lunch, but about the recent weekend." Shirou interrupted as Taiga was about to ask him about lunch again. _'Where did she get that bento from?' _He added in his thoughts.

"Oh, the weekend? Alright, ask away!" Taiga said, somewhat happily.

"Well... to put it bluntly, where were you yesterday and the evening before that? I was waiting for you and I prepared your meal, expecting you to come." Shirou questioned. "I thought you would've come and eaten at mine just like you always do. What happened?"

"Hmmm..." Taiga put her hand on her chin, thinking. "Well, I got out of school really late and seeing as I was really, really hungry then, I went and got some... take-away."

"...really? That stuff?" Shirou sighed. Well, she must have been really hungry to miss out on his dinner. REALLY hungry. He continued. "What caused you to be so late? What time did you get out of school?"

Taiga put on a contemplative look. "Let's see... I got out at, I think, 7 o' clock-ish? There was a lot of schoolwork that had to be done that I missed out on." She stared back at Shirou. "Why are you asking these questions? Wait. Could it be...?"

Her mischievous façade formed on her face. "Were you worried for me, Shirou? Why, thank you! Looking out for a pretty lady like me, any woman would want you!" She leaned forward and patted him on chest teasingly. Shirou lightly blushed and scratched his head awkwardly, catching glimpses of some girls giggling at his blushing visage.

"W-well... you are right. I was pretty worried about you... can you stop smiling at me...? You're making me embarrassed..." Shirou looked away, pink cheeks still on. But he didn't escape as more girls were giggling and chatting to each other, while he tried to look away. Why? What did he do?

"Awww~! Little Shirou-kun is worried about his onee-san? My Shirou-kun is growing up!" She put on her bubbly eyes and tried to pinch his cheeks.

He quickly waved her off and retorted, rather flustered. "Don't treat me like a kid! Besides, I was just looking out for you! C'mon, Fuji-nee!" After a while of hearty chuckling from Taiga, she eventually calmed down.

"Hehehe! You shouldn't worry about me, Shirou-kun! I was alright yesterday as well! I just went out really early because I had to do some things. I ate out, that's why I wasn't there for breakfast." Taiga said.

"Oh, really? What were these things you had to do?" Shirou replied back, a little more coolly now. He still was a little flustered though.

Taiga just wagged her hand at him. "Now now, Shirou! You shouldn't pry into a woman's secrets!" She put her hand on her hips. "I'll be sure to contact you next time I won't be there, okay? You're too protective! Don't you trust me~?"

Shirou sighed and smiled. "Yeah, I trust you, Fujimura-sensei. I might have overreacted a bit. Well, maybe more than a bit. Sorry for bothering you."

Taiga waved him off. "Don't worry about it! Now, I'll be off! See ya!" She then sped off into the hallway to get to whatever destination she was headed.

Shirou stared at the dust trail she left. He then turned and walked in the direction of the student council room, where he usually hangs out, with his lunch in hand.

_'She's hiding something.' _He thought. _'I might be wrong, but I have a hunch she's got something to hide. Hmmm...' _The parts that stood out when she was speaking, was the takeaway and her missing status yesterday. Maybe this was one of hose occasions she had to miss out...?

_'Well, whatever.' _He shook his head. _'I can trust her and I think I need to stop worrying. I think she's going to be alright... ah. Wait. I forgot to ask her why she's cheerful... well, she always was but... ah, never mind.' _He arrived at the student council room and greeted Issei, who was already inside.

"Hey, Emiya. Where were you?" Issei started.

"I was speaking to Fujimura-sensei. I had to talk to her about something." Shirou replied back to his bespectacled friend.

"Hm, alright. Let's eat then shall we? I've also got some jobs that I need your help with..." Issei waited for Shirou to sit and bought out his own bento.

_'I'll think about that for later. I think it's something personal anyway. I don't want to pry.' _Shirou concluded and sat down, facing Issei. He set his own lunch on the table and started eating with Issei, talking about things that interested them and the jobs that he would gladly help him with.

* * *

_**Afterschool...**_

At last, after a boring, yet educational last lesson, the school day was finally done. Students were celebrating internally for yet another school day finishing and all of them were going their separate ways; some going to afterschool clubs, some straight home and others going to the city centre of Fuyuki to chill out.

For Shirou's case, it was time to do some odd jobs and bear the not-so-noble title of "Fake School Janitor". By odd jobs, that means repairing worn down electronics and the like, something an ordinary student wouldn't normally do afterschool or in the morning.

But first on the agenda, was to sort out the arising problem that was Matou Shinji, vice-captain of the Archery Club.

_'...what has he done now? Mitsuzuri said he was picking on the first years... probably saying how bad they are or something, I guess.' _Shirou sighed. Ever since he left the club (through Shinji's 'persuasion'), his superior attitude has been at an all time high. Shirou mused that it was probably because of him retiring. Not that he really minded. Shinji was a friend, after all.

Shirou hiked over to the Archery Dojo to where the problem lay. He entered the dojo and took his shoes off, when he heard some pretty loud chuckling noises... and some sobbing sounds.

"Hahaha! If you can't hold a bow right or get the stance correctly, you shouldn't even be in here!" Undoubtedly, that was Sakura's brother.

"Hey! Shinji! Leave it be! You're making her cry!" The captain's voice could also be heard by the entrance.

_'I think this is getting out of hand...'_ Shirou had to stifle a sigh. From the sounds of it, Shinji was bullying a poor first-year girl. Leave it to him to downgrade someone from their level.

Once he finished taking his shoes off, he entered the fray. "Is something going on here?" He said when he entered the dojo.

Reactions came from the captain, vice-captain and bystanders. "Ah, Emiya! Nice timing!" Mitsuzuri exclaimed with an expression of relief on her face.

"Tch! Emiya? What are you doing here?" Shinji's trademark scowl appeared when Shirou came in. Shirou just dismissed it and smiled crookedly at him.

"Senpai!" Shirou turned to the voice that leaked happiness and saw Sakura, dressed in her Archery gear. She was smiling happily and looked at Shirou with something akin to admiration. Or something more.

Shirou didn't notice, much to her disappointment. Nevertheless, he smiled back at her in greetings which lit her up again.

After smiling to Sakura in greetings, Shirou turned to the captain, Mitsuzuri. He started, "What happened here? Did she do something?"

Once Mitsuzuri was about to speak, Shinji opened his mouth first. "The thing that she did, is showing up here. She clearly doesn't belong here. Her stature is crap and the way she holds her bow is also crap. How she even got into the club is something I don't get!" Shinji sniggered at the end of his speech and Mitsuzuri glared at him.

She responded, "Hey Shinji! Shut up! Anyone can join the club, newbie or not!" Her glare didn't seem to perturb him in any way, as shown by the increasingly growing smirk on his face.

He put his hands on his hips. "Well well well! I guess that's why the Archery Club has gotten so bad then! Hahaha!"

Mitsuzuri was about to retort back again, but Shirou stopped her and shot her a look that said 'let me handle this'. She nodded an affirmative, albeit quite reluctantly, as shown by the visible amount of anger on her face.

"Hey Shinji," Shirou started, "She's clearly a newcomer but that doesn't mean you should pick on her."

"Ha! Have you seen these people try to shoot an arrow, Emiya?" Shinji stared at Shirou. "They couldn't do it at all! It was pathetic!"

Shirou sighed in response. "They probably can't right now. But that doesn't mean that they can't practice shooting an arrow. Everyone starts at the beginning, Shinji. You, me and even the captain started from not being able to hold a bow properly. Give her a chance to prove herself and I'm sure she'll be great." He smiled to the girl who was now currently watching the conversation with swollen eyes. She smiled and blushed at the gesture.

Shinji scowled. "Hmph! We'll see. After all, trash will stay trash."

Shirou scratched the back of his head. He's been doing that a lot today. "Come on, Shinji. Just let it go and give the new guys a chance."

Shinji glowered at him and ignored his comment. "Why are you here, Emiya? Didn't you retire? Did you come here to show off?"

"No no," Shirou replied, "I came here because someone needed help. I can even help you, Shinji, if you just ask. After all, you're a friend and I help my friends."

Shinji turned away from him and headed for the door. "Whatever. I don't care. Train them up all you want, I'm sure they won't change." He exited the dojo with that remark hanging in the air.

Once he left, Shirou stood there and sighed. He felt a hand hit his back and turned to see Mitsuzuri, Sakura, the first-year girl and the other first-years looking at him with respect shining in their eyes.

The former was smiling appreciatively, her previous glare now gone from her face. Sakura, on the other hand, was smiling sweetly, although she was a bit upset from Shinji's display. The latter... well, she was blushing and was clearly struck from his show of sticking up for her and the others.

"Thank you, Emiya." Mitsuzuri said. "He can become a handful most of the time, but as I said this morning, I don't know why he was particularly heated this time round."

"Don't worry about it," Shirou replied, "If he does it next time, tell me again. I'll be there." Shirou smiled at her and she nodded in response.

"Alright, everyone! Let's get back to practicing!" Mitsuzuri exclaimed to the other students. She moved further into the dojo and waved a goodbye, along with the first-year girl who did the same.

"Thanks, senpai!" Multiple voices were heard thanking Shirou for standing up to Shinji. He gave a friendly gesture and they happily returned it. Once done, he turned to Sakura, who was still standing next to him.

"Thank you, senpai. I know my brother can be a bit troublesome, but he means no harm... I think..." Sakura muttered.

"Like I said to Mitsuzuri, don't worry about it. I think I've known Shinji enough to know his actions. I can take care of him." He smiled warmly at her and she reciprocated the action.

They stared at each other for a few long moments, with a comforting silence blanketing them in their own little world. Gazing in each other's eyes, they still had their warm and happy expressions plastered on their faces. It felt like they had a moment, right there and then.

"Hehehe~..." Unfortunately, to Sakura's dismay, the two got their moment ended by the sounds of giggling.

They got bought out of their stupor and turned to the side where the entrance was and the direction of the giggles was heard. What they saw was the teasing face of Taiga Fujimura, who was looking at them with cat eyes and a hand that was covering her obviously smirking mouth.

The two looked at the animal for a couple of minutes, an increasingly growing wildfire spreading on both their cheeks, widening eyes and a twitching mouth on Shirou. They were saved from the embarrassing silence from the one who started it.

"Hohoho... you two are the most innocent and cutest couple I've ever seen!" She held both her hands in front of her in a delighted manner. "The way you two just manage to create a lovely atmosphere, is just... too cute~!"

"W-wha-! Fuji-nee! I...! We...! W-we were just...!" Shirou stuttered and tried to come up with an excuse, but failed miserably. On the other hand, Sakura was blushing in embarrassment and was silent, looking at something interesting on the floor.

"Hehehe! No need to come up with any excuses! I'll leave you two lovebirds alone now, ok~? Bye bye!" She then skipped deeper into the dojo to do whatever she needed, leaving the two in an awkward silence.

"..." Sakura was still looking at the floor of the dojo, unspeaking.

"..." Shirou gaped in Taiga's direction where she was headed, frozen in his tracks and unable to speak his excuses.

After a moment of gaping, Shirou turned to Sakura, the blush still evident on both of their cheeks. He then spoke, scratching his neck in the process. Too much scratching. "W-well, I'll be s-seeing you, Sakura. U-umm, good luck with the Archery Club in the future."

Sakura finally managed to look up in his direction, though she diverted her eyes to the side. "Y-yeah. See you soon, senpai."

After speaking those words to each other, they both separated. Shirou went towards the entrance of the dojo, while Sakura went to practice more archery.

_'When will she stop?! Sakura may be cute and all that, but I don't see her that way... God! When will she learn her lesson?! I'd really love to see her get her own taste of the medicine she always gives to me!' _With those concluding thoughts, he went back inside school to fix some broken electronics.

He obviously didn't know that there was a saviour out there in the city that already served the medicine. Too bad he didn't get to see it.

* * *

By the end of the school day, Rin headed straight home to get ready to investigate the disturbance that happened two days ago.

Her head was on overdrive throughout the whole school day, still trying to figure out what the hell is happening in her city. For a big release that occurred near the place she was living, she couldn't help but think that it was a really dumb move.

There was no Bounded Field set up around the area, indicating either a really dumb magus or no sense of awareness for the individual. Who was still dumb. Whoever done it indicated his or her presence to everyone who can do Magecraft. She couldn't understand what the culprit's objectives were.

One must first set up a Bounded Field to improve secrecy, right? So why was there no field here? Maybe it's an experiment gone bad? A possibility. Who knows? She can ponder more about that later.

Anyways, Rin bought more jewels with her, just in case of trouble. The culprit could still be there doing whatever and even though she was proficient enough to handle herself in close quarters, one can't be too careful. It was a magus who had probably done it after all.

And so, she began her trek at around the same time the disturbance occurred, at about 5 o' clock-ish. While walking, she idly wondered about what was going on in the rumour mill at school today.

It was causing quite a stir apparently. She had heard from her fellow peers by the time lunch had finished and she had returned to the classroom to overhear some of the females talking amongst themselves.

They were talking about this new mystery student that was going to be arriving in a couple of weeks time. No specific date was announced or heard, but it was said the student will be coming. What really caught her ears, was the fact that these classmates of hers in 2-A were chatting excitedly.

_'Who would've thought that those girls would get so excited for just a bunch of rumours? They might not even be true. But a new transfer student going into our year, huh? I guess that's something to look forward to.' _Rin mused. Stories were going around that this new student would be quite the looker, if not more. She heard from one of the girls that the energetic teacher dropped the hint that they, the females, would be in for a treat. The teacher didn't say anything more than that, as she wanted to keep it a surprise.

Yup, definitely something to look forward to. A surprise is a surprise after all. She secretly kept to herself the vision of the looks on her classmates' faces, if the rumours turned out to be untrue.

She concluded her thought process, as she had arrived at the destination. The sun was slowly dimming and going down, painting the sky in a beautiful orange hue. Streaks of white fluff called clouds were very slowly breaking apart from each other, dissipating into nothing. A beautiful sky that she could admire, if not for the fact that she had something to do.

"Haaaaa..." She slowly breathed out. The street lamps turned on, as if helping her in her investigation to find something... or someone. "...alright. Let's get to work."

She rolled the sleeves up on her red coat and got to work.

* * *

"...ok." She spoke to no one in particular. "Why the hell can't I find anything?!"

After two long, agonising hours, she scanned the place for anything. Anything that could help her in this search for the cause of the disturbance.

Scanning the street near the park, she sensed the atmosphere around the park as it was where most of the mana in the air had depleted. As for the word 'most', she meant a little. The surroundings had suffered no depletion in mana but this one particular spot had lost a little bit of it, though it will be a pretty long time until it begins to generate again. Strange.

Though that was the only thing strange in the area. That was the one thing she could gather that she thought could be related to this case. The culprit did a great job at hiding whatever happened here, much to her dismay.

Nothing seemed out of place and that was what infuriated her. For a seemingly third-rate magus (which she concluded the culprit was), the person was really good at covering his or her tracks.

Rin smiled evilly to herself. When she finds this person, and she WILL, she's going to teach them a lesson for wasting two hours worth of her time.

Oh, will she be looking forward to that particular time.

She exhaled loudly and looked around the place. All was quiet and the place was empty, with her being the only one on the street. The area was shrouded in darkness, though not completely pitch black. The only light sources there were the street lamps, providing limited illumination in the area, though you could still see quite a distance without it.

It was now 7 o'clock. The beautiful orange hue in the sky was no longer present and was instead replaced by an equally darkening, and beautiful, blanket of twinkling stars. Rin looked back down to earth and was about to conclude this failed investigation, when she heard the rustling of leaves.

She craned her neck towards the noise that broke the silence and went into alert mode. Is the perpetrator here?

She looked towards the park where the rustling came from and narrowed her eyes. The person has made an error at making an obvious noise like that. She started walking cautiously in the park's direction, keeping her eyes peeled for any movement.

_'Damn lamps. They aren't giving me much vision here. Got to trust my instincts here.' _Rin thought.

She set one foot onto the park's gravelled floor, when a gust of wind blew her hair into her face and rustled the leaves of the trees and bushes around her. She quickly got rid of the stray hair and pressed on, keeping the hair at bay on the side of her face but maintained her vigilant guard.

The wind died down. But the rustling of a large bush didn't. Rin kept her steps silent and moved towards the offending piece of nature that was still moving.

Getting closer and closer, she lifted her arms to reveal whoever was the cause of the shaking.

Closer.  
And closer.  
And closer.

Until...

"...I've got you now..." She muttered under her breath, not loud enough for the person to hear.

Creeping up slowly to the big bush that could hide a man, she swiftly pried open the bush to reveal...!

"Meowww..."

...a cat.

"...eh?" Rin murmured. Ok then. Turns out to be a cat. Perfect. Just perfect.

Well, this turn of events certainly added to burning frustration that was her ego. First the so-called investigation that bared no fruits, now a freakin' cat gets added to the mix.

Rin looked up to the night sky, as if calling for a miracle. She then sighed in resignation. Today has been an unfortunate day... and a complete waste of her damn time.

This magus was going to get it. For sure.

With that declaration burned in her head, she looked back at the cat to see it staring back at her. With what looked like an expression akin to disinterest on the cat's visage, the cat simply stood up and moved from it's perch in the bush and left her to frown at the animal.

She then sighed again. She straightened out her posture and fixed her face. Turning around from the place where the cat had been relaxing, she saw a sparkle before slowly walking away.

After taking 5-10 steps to where she entered from, she stopped. A sparkle?

Letting her curiosity take over her, she walked back to the bush and opened the space to settle her eyes on something twinkling. Though she could only see a little bit of the object because of the twigs in the way, she opened up the space more and grabbed the sparkling object.

Picking it up in her hands and placing it on her open right hand, she visibly lit up at the sight.

A silver, metallic gun rested on the palm of her hand, glistening in the moonlit sky in all it's luster.

* * *

_**Chapter 2 - End**_

* * *

**A/N: Alright, so here's the next chapter! So, so sorry about it being two months since the last chapter. The game called 'Real Life' has been occupying me for the past month. Been busy with school starting up again and exams coming up. And also I've got some new stories that have been recently appearing in my mind and I've been planning them. I won't reveal too much, but they're mostly P3 crossovers (which has the always-charming Minato as the protagonist).**

**And so, with that said I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Thought it was time to introduce the F/SN characters now. And I will answer a question that probably has been in your mind; "When will the Grail War start?" The answer to that is when Minato transfers into Homurahara and gets his own place to live in. I've obviously got some stuff planned before that :D (and hopefully I get to submit a chapter earlier).**

**With this note ending, I say: see ya next time and thanks for reading! (Also, thanks to the new reviewers who submitted the recent reviews for brightening my day!)**


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